The Weather Headlines

NATIONAL WEATHER SUMMARY:

Across the East, thunderstorms rolled across the Gulf Coast yesterday morning. Several of these storms became strong to locally severe, featuring strong winds and large hail. Winds knocked down numerous trees from Talking Rock, Ga. to Jasper, Ga. A tornado was reported in Sylvester, Ga. This activity also featured locally heavy rains, which produced isolated areas of flash flooding across portions of southern Mississippi, southern Alabama, southwestern Georgia, and the Panhandle of Florida. Several daily rainfall records were broken yesterday, including Pensacola, Fla. with 2.82 inches of rain. These storms moved off the coast overnight. During the afternoon, another line of thunderstorms form, this time producing severe hail reports across Tennessee, Kentucky, and southern Indiana. A brief tornado touchdown was reported between Summitville and Viola, Tenn. To the north, light snow and windy conditions lingered through the day across eastern Maine, diminishing overnight. Elsewhere, rain showers spread across the lower Great Lakes and the Mid-Atlantic overnight.

Across the Central U.S., a wide swath of moderate rains fell across Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. Snow mixed in at times across eastern Iowa with no accumulations noted. Scattered showers pushed through the Mid-Mississippi Valley yesterday morning, pushing east of the Mississippi by afternoon. Rainfall totals were generally light with this activity. Scattered showers lingered over Illinois and southern Wisconsin overnight with a few areas of snow mixing in over southern Wisc. Scattered showers also moved across North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota through the day. Elsewhere, dry and quiet weather occurred across Texas and along the High Plains. Warm weather continued over southern Texas with 90s being reported.

In the West, a storm system brought scattered rain and mountain snow showers to the Pacific Northwest eastward into the northern Rockies. Locally heavy snow fell across the Cascades of Washington and northern Oregon. The activity was lighter across the northern Rockies. Winds gusted to 50 mph in spots across the favored terrain. Elsewhere, tranquil weather occurred across the southern Rockies, the Great Basin, the Desert Southwest, and California.

WEATHER EXTREMES FOR YESTERDAY:

HIGHEST TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F).............100 Harlingen, TX

HIGHEST HEAT INDEX (DEGREES F)...............94 Harlingen, TX

LOWEST TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)...............13 Climax, CO

LOWEST WIND CHILL (DEGREES F)................11 Frenchville, ME

HIGHEST WIND GUST (MPH)......................60 Mount Auburn, KY

HIGHEST PRECIPITATION (INCHES).............3.14 Tallahassee, FL

ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY:

In 1886, a strong tornado left a 20 mile path of destruction through Sauk Rapids and Saint Cloud, Minn.. The tornado, 800 yards across, left 72 people dead and destroyed 80% of the buildings in Sauk Rapids. When it crossed the Mississippi it knocked down an iron wagon bridge.

In 1987, a strong storm system across the Midwest spawned three tornados near Ottumwa, IA and produced up to 4 inches of rain in southeastern Nebraska, causing rivers in the area to overflow their banks.

In 1990, a cold front moving through eastern Texas produced severe thunderstorms during the morning hours. Dime size hail fell at Galveston and winds were clocked at 59 mph at Port Arthur, Texas. Later in the afternoon, these thunderstorms produced tornadoes in Louisiana.

Filed by DTN-Meteorlogix

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.